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Whether you are a student with a lot of required reading for your psychology class, or you are constantly trying to get through a full email inbox at work, you have probably wished you could read just a bit faster. Knowing how to increase your reading speed could definitely have a positive influence on your life. It can help you with better comprehension of what you read, as well as help you get through reading in a fraction of the time it used to take. The following are a few easy techniques that can help you to read faster with better comprehension.

Tip #1 - Time Your Current Speed of Reading - To begin learning to speed read, you will first need to figure out at what rate you are reading now. You can do this by going to a site that offers you the tests needed to evaluate your reading or you can read a passage and have another person time how fast you complete the passage. Keep in mind not to try to speed up your reading while testing. If you do read the passage faster than usual you will not get an accurate evaluation of your current capability.

Tip #2 - Don't Reread - Many people actually have a bad habit of going back to what they have already read and rereading it again to see if they missed anything. If you want to read faster you are going to have to break yourself of this habit, since it can significantly slow you down. In order to break yourself of this habit, you can simply use an index card as you read a book or magazine and cover up what you have previously read with the card so you cannot go back and reread previous material.

Tip #3 - Avoid Reading to Yourself - Subconsciously, many people actually pronounce words they are reading to themselves. Some say the words in their heads while others actually say the words in a whisper. When you do this is really can slow down your rate of reading, so this is another habit you need to break.

Tip #4 - Read Blocks of Words - Reading blocks of words is another speed reading technique that can help you read faster as well. Some words are going to be more important than other words and if you are trying to speed read you'll need to read groups of words all at one time. Try doing this and you'll be surprised how much you pick up when you read blocks of words together.

Tip #5 - Practice and Push to Read Faster - One of the best techniques that you can use to improve your reading speed is to practice. Constantly use these tips and when you are reading try to push yourself to read faster than is comfortable for you. This will help to push you out of your comfort zone and will help you to increase your speed of reading.

If you are interested in learning more about speed reading there are various training programs and software available that can help you even more. Remember, reading faster can improve your life, so taking the time to study and learn ways to improve your reading speed is definitely time well spent.